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I think our ability to terraform any other place is rather constrained by our ability to send at best very small amounts of anything to them, at great expense

That'll improve.

Not really, given the current pattern of behavior vis a vis space and science spending.

We're likely going to go backwards on space technology for the next fifty years or so. We already got rid of reusable space ships, and we're one delete key from getting rid of Apollo era technology.

I don't have much hope for space exploration in the near future.

What that does mean is that in fifty years President A Man From Earth will be able to launch a brilliant new space program using 100 year old technology that will have been rediscovered.

Getting rid of the space shuttle wasn't a step backwards. They weren't good ideas.

And in fifty years, we will have better technology. We will be better at everything. That is what we do.

Can I introduce you to modern western civilization?

The boomers have thrown there hands up in the air and said "welp, we had it good but somehow things are shit for everyone after us"

I would very much like that not to be the case, and I plan on doing everything I can to keep it from being the case, but current trends would say that we're entering a period of voluntary decline.

We're at a liminal period in history. We can chose Star Trek or Mad Max right now to head toward and the people in charge are going for the cheaper, more Australian one. It's just a question on whether or not the rest of us are going to stop them.

Modern american civilization, is what you are talking about. You are talking about small irrelevant political eddies in one nation, here.

And what trends. What trends are saying science in america is dying? That progress will halt? It doesn't! It never does!

The world is generally and on balance, a better place to live this year than it was last year.

Your pessimism is stupid.

Right, cause Europe is so much better right now at that whole "lost generation thing"

And certainly the nerfing of the space program in the richest and most space programy country doesn't matter.

Your optimism is stupid.

This is what happens when Republicans grow bitter and turn their faces from the core of our political identity: America, Fuck Yeah.

bailing out to Mars because of Earth's problems makes zero sense. Even at the worse we can throw at it Earth will always be more suitable to life than Mars. Maybe have a colony there just because but it's stupid to think we could just up and move there in significant numbers.

bailing out to Mars because of Earth's problems makes zero sense. Even at the worse we can throw at it Earth will always be more suitable to life than Mars. Maybe have a colony there just because but it's stupid to think we could just up and move there in significant numbers.

The only reason to colonize mars would be because we have already colonized the moon, as both have a similar chance of sustaining life outside at this point.

Honestly, neither of those locations should be civilian, but rather military or transport. Staging areas to extend our reach further. the kinds of ships we could build in a lower gravity environment that involves less strain to escape the gravity well would be inspiring.

I'd love to be a part of their team. Climate change is like one of the top 3 threats to mankind right now and it'd be awesome to be at the forefront of fighting it. Alas. maybe I should get a master's in environmental science. But I want something big picture. not helping design a widget for a pump or whatever.

I think our ability to terraform any other place is rather constrained by our ability to send at best very small amounts of anything to them, at great expense

That'll improve.

Not really, given the current pattern of behavior vis a vis space and science spending.

We're likely going to go backwards on space technology for the next fifty years or so. We already got rid of reusable space ships, and we're one delete key from getting rid of Apollo era technology.

I don't have much hope for space exploration in the near future.

What that does mean is that in fifty years President A Man From Earth will be able to launch a brilliant new space program using 100 year old technology that will have been rediscovered.

Getting rid of the space shuttle wasn't a step backwards. They weren't good ideas.

And in fifty years, we will have better technology. We will be better at everything. That is what we do.

Can I introduce you to modern western civilization?

The boomers have thrown there hands up in the air and said "welp, we had it good but somehow things are shit for everyone after us"

I would very much like that not to be the case, and I plan on doing everything I can to keep it from being the case, but current trends would say that we're entering a period of voluntary decline.

We're at a liminal period in history. We can chose Star Trek or Mad Max right now to head toward and the people in charge are going for the cheaper, more Australian one. It's just a question on whether or not the rest of us are going to stop them.

Modern american civilization, is what you are talking about. You are talking about small irrelevant political eddies in one nation, here.

And what trends. What trends are saying science in america is dying? That progress will halt? It doesn't! It never does!

The world is generally and on balance, a better place to live this year than it was last year.

Your pessimism is stupid.

Right, cause Europe is so much better right now at that whole "lost generation thing"

And certainly the nerfing of the space program in the richest and most space programy country doesn't matter.

Your optimism is stupid.

The fuck are you talking about? "Lost generation"?

and technological progress isn't lost or halted just because you're stopping your space program. Not even close.

It was a boon to general scientific progress of the world, but losing it just means a little less progress, not decline.

And science most certainly does halt. The dark ages, for one, it took until the renaissance for us to relearn things that the Greeks and Romans knew.

I'm pretty sure I've heard this called out as a misrepresentation of the times by the medieval historians I know.

It is, the learning centers were shifted. It was no longer Europe and more Constantinople that became the centers of thought and philosophy. Which moved to Jerusalem, then back to Europe with the Renaissance.

The medieval period was pretty scientific, it was just mostly not the white people doing the science.

The problem is without a magnetosphere any atmosphere you throw at it will blow away

we would need to go The Core on its ass

The largest problem. Can you create a magnetosphere, I wonder?

The magnetic field around planets is caused by the dynamo effect of the core's rotation inside the planet.

So blow nukes up down there to get the core moving again!

Is that all it would take? Makes sense in theory since the orbit of the planet would help shift the core and keep it moving. Without an active tectonic system wouldn't it eventually stop again? Assuming it has a core that can be liquid. Hm. How the hell does the core stay liquid? Seems like it would get solid pretty quickly.

The problem is without a magnetosphere any atmosphere you throw at it will blow away

we would need to go The Core on its ass

The largest problem. Can you create a magnetosphere, I wonder?

The magnetic field around planets is caused by the dynamo effect of the core's rotation inside the planet.

So blow nukes up down there to get the core moving again!

Is that all it would take? Makes sense in theory since the orbit of the planet would help shift the core and keep it moving. Without an active tectonic system wouldn't it eventually stop again? Assuming it has a core that can be liquid. Hm. How the hell does the core stay liquid? Seems like it would get solid pretty quickly.

IIRC, ours remains the way it is because of how thick and dense our planet is. Mars being smaller would have cooled faster, same with the moon. But I am not a Scientist.

The problem is without a magnetosphere any atmosphere you throw at it will blow away

we would need to go The Core on its ass

The largest problem. Can you create a magnetosphere, I wonder?

The magnetic field around planets is caused by the dynamo effect of the core's rotation inside the planet.

So blow nukes up down there to get the core moving again!

Is that all it would take? Makes sense in theory since the orbit of the planet would help shift the core and keep it moving. Without an active tectonic system wouldn't it eventually stop again? Assuming it has a core that can be liquid. Hm. How the hell does the core stay liquid? Seems like it would get solid pretty quickly.

Well I was kidding about the nukes. Keeping the core moving and resuming tectonic activity is what's necessary for the magnetosphere to be rebuilt though.

The fall of the Roman Empire was pretty drastic to Europe as far as I knew, which is why it was "the dark ages" lots of independent areas, gothic/lombard/islamic invasions, no more communication like you had with Rome, it was chaos.

I think our ability to terraform any other place is rather constrained by our ability to send at best very small amounts of anything to them, at great expense

That'll improve.

Not really, given the current pattern of behavior vis a vis space and science spending.

We're likely going to go backwards on space technology for the next fifty years or so. We already got rid of reusable space ships, and we're one delete key from getting rid of Apollo era technology.

I don't have much hope for space exploration in the near future.

What that does mean is that in fifty years President A Man From Earth will be able to launch a brilliant new space program using 100 year old technology that will have been rediscovered.

Getting rid of the space shuttle wasn't a step backwards. They weren't good ideas.

And in fifty years, we will have better technology. We will be better at everything. That is what we do.

Can I introduce you to modern western civilization?

The boomers have thrown there hands up in the air and said "welp, we had it good but somehow things are shit for everyone after us"

I would very much like that not to be the case, and I plan on doing everything I can to keep it from being the case, but current trends would say that we're entering a period of voluntary decline.

We're at a liminal period in history. We can chose Star Trek or Mad Max right now to head toward and the people in charge are going for the cheaper, more Australian one. It's just a question on whether or not the rest of us are going to stop them.

Modern american civilization, is what you are talking about. You are talking about small irrelevant political eddies in one nation, here.

And what trends. What trends are saying science in america is dying? That progress will halt? It doesn't! It never does!

The world is generally and on balance, a better place to live this year than it was last year.

Your pessimism is stupid.

Right, cause Europe is so much better right now at that whole "lost generation thing"

And certainly the nerfing of the space program in the richest and most space programy country doesn't matter.

Your optimism is stupid.

The shuttle needed to be shut down and Constellation was an awful program from start to finish. The current plan, to get SpaceX and company up and running is the best option out there. NASA shouldn't be designing new rockets. They should be coming up with mission architectures that can use the existing plethora of rockets. We know we can assemble shit in space, just look at the ISS. The SLS is completely unnecessary and a joke. even if it gets built (which it never will) there won't be a payload for it to launch or a mission to support. It'll be horrendously expensive to operate and SpaceX will likely beat it to the punch with the heavy lift version of the Falcon. Basically NASA is doing a great job at what it was designed to do, which is pour money into certain congressional districts. Advancing mankind's presence in space, not so much its strength.

The problem is without a magnetosphere any atmosphere you throw at it will blow away

we would need to go The Core on its ass

The largest problem. Can you create a magnetosphere, I wonder?

The magnetic field around planets is caused by the dynamo effect of the core's rotation inside the planet.

So blow nukes up down there to get the core moving again!

Is that all it would take? Makes sense in theory since the orbit of the planet would help shift the core and keep it moving. Without an active tectonic system wouldn't it eventually stop again? Assuming it has a core that can be liquid. Hm. How the hell does the core stay liquid? Seems like it would get solid pretty quickly.

It takes a very, very, very long time for something as big and as hot as earth to cool down. Radioactive decay makes the process even slower.

Mars is a lot smaller, so it cooled a lot faster.

Also I'm pretty sure we have something like a billionth of the amount of nukes we'd need to melt Mars' core.

The problem is without a magnetosphere any atmosphere you throw at it will blow away

we would need to go The Core on its ass

The largest problem. Can you create a magnetosphere, I wonder?

The magnetic field around planets is caused by the dynamo effect of the core's rotation inside the planet.

So blow nukes up down there to get the core moving again!

Is that all it would take? Makes sense in theory since the orbit of the planet would help shift the core and keep it moving. Without an active tectonic system wouldn't it eventually stop again? Assuming it has a core that can be liquid. Hm. How the hell does the core stay liquid? Seems like it would get solid pretty quickly.

It takes a very, very, very long time for something as big and as hot as earth to cool down. Radioactive decay makes the process even slower.

Mars is a lot smaller, so it cooled a lot faster.

Also I'm pretty sure we have something like a billionth of the amount of nukes we'd need to melt Mars' core.